▪ I. unˈcleanly, a.
[OE. unclǽnlic: see un-1 7 and cleanly a. Cf. MDu. oncleinlijc, oncleenlijc foul, dirty.]
1. Morally or spiritually impure.
| c 950 Rit. Eccl. Dunelm. (Surtees) 110 Contactus inlicitorum fugat, cunnvnga þa vnclænlico ᵹifliæ. 1340 Ayenb. 42 Ich clepie onclenlich: huanne þe seruises byeþ y-do uor onclenliche cause. 1526 Tindale 2 Pet. ii. 7 Lot vexed with the unclenly conversacion off the wicked. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts xii. 45 b, And princes on the other parte flatter the people, exhibitinge vnto them shewes to gase vpon, and vncleanly playes. 1598 Tofte Alba Div. Poems (1880) 131 Soyled with beastly Thoughts vncleanly gore. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 139 Who ha's that breast so pure, Wherein vncleanly Apprehensions Keepe Leetes, and Law⁓dayes. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 224 ¶8, I cannot excuse my fellow-Labourers for admitting into their Papers several uncleanly Advertisements. 1788 V. Knox Winter Even. li. (1790) II. 368 He pursues his subject so far, as frequently to lead his reader to uncleanly scenes. 1871 Farrar Witn. Hist. iv. 138 Yet there was a needless and uncleanly abjectness in several of his precepts. |
2. Lacking in physical cleanness; dirty, foul, filthy.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xi. (1495) 609 Men that must nedes passe by stynkyng places other vnclenly rotyn places. 1502 Arnolde Chron. 108 Item that many of the priestis and clerkis often were foule and unclenly surplesis. 1548 Elyot, Incultus, vncleanly apparaylyng, contrary to Cultus; negligence in apparaylyng. 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 112 Th' vncleanly savours of a Slaughter-house. 1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.) 100 The vncleanly and adust constitution of their bodies. 1670 Clarendon Ess. Tracts (1727) 173 This uncomely and uncleanly wardrobe. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 261 Who is there so uncleanly..as to wash his feet in the water used by another? 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 340 The crouded and uncleanly parts of the town. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers I. ii. 188 Long hair on a clergyman, besides being uncleanly, is quite against the canons of the Church. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas, The King iii, By sleight of sword we may not win, But scuffle 'mid uncleanly smoke Of arquebus and culverin. |
▪ II. unˈcleanly, adv.
[OE. unclǽnl{iacu}ce: see un-1 11 and cleanly adv.]
In an unclean manner; foully, filthily.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 432 We wilniað mid urum hlaforde clænlice sweltan, swiðor ðonne unclænlice mid eow lybban. 1583 Babington Commandm. (1590) 178 Wee walke and talke idlely, vainly, vncleanly, and vngodlily. 1584 Cogan Haven Health 262 Much people in small roume, liuing vncleanly and sluttishly. 1611 Cotgr., Impurement, impurely, foulely, filthily, vncleanely. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. ii. v. (1651) 83 The inhabitants are slovens, and the streets uncleanly kept. 1727 Bailey (vol. II), Uncleanly, filthily. |